......just look a what people buy across the board and where peoples material priorities lay.

Yes, sailors buy the boats that they want to buy, no doubt about that and most of them buy the best their money can afford. Only some lucky ones buy just what they really want (I am not one of them).

But I don't agree that most sailors don't know what kind of boat they want neither that their choice is not adequate to their life style, sailing taste, cruising grounds and of course limited by the boundaries of their budget, at least for most.